Is this the first hype cycle you've ever experienced?

AI alone has had many and this is just another one of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_winter

Just because we have made progress since the last one doesn't mean that _this_ time it will be magically different.

So what makes you think this will be any different?

Keep in mind that each hype cycle was started by a leap in progress, so you can't say this time it is different because we made a big leap in progress.